The Great Beyond

Chapter 28: Crash Course (Reign)

 Loud sonic booms, plasma blasts, and the earth-rattling explosions of the ignition of Zippleback gas. From the outside, it sounded like we were fending off a Hunter attack, or maybe we'd found a ship and were freeing the dragons trapped below deck. But, instead, we'd spent our entire day chipping away at the cliffs on the opposite end of Dragon's Edge from where we lived. Large chunks of rock went tumbling onto the ground below us. Fishlegs and Meatlug made sure to swoop in at the right moment and catch whatever one of us knocked down and move it to one of the many catapults we had lined up along the cliff side.

"So fast!" Fishlegs cheered as he and Meatlug zoomed past us again. "Good girl, Meatlug!"

Despite the fact they'd dropped the boulder Toothless had just shot down into the ocean, I couldn't help but smile at the two of them.

I'd definitely noticed the way were overworking ourselves since Viggo had gotten his hands on the Dragon Eye. It was no secret Hiccup worried constantly about the next time we'd be attacked, and what would be taken from him. Some nights, I would hear the door to his hut open, and by the time I got outside, he'd either disappeared on Toothless, or was off somewhere else on the island, attempting to clear his mind. I didn't really know how to ask him about how he was doing, given that things still weren't back where they had been.

Regardless, I worried about him. He was pushing himself, turning into a person I didn't recognize to an almost frightening degree.

In moments when I was like this, I never considered what I was doing to him. I got so lost in the fear and the words my own mind spoke to me that I couldn't even begin to fathom the consequences. But, at this point in my life, I was officially living it. I felt helpless as I watched him turn away and hide what I still knew existed, overwhelmingly anxious when he left for the night, consumed by the concern his health was slipping away from the habits he'd formed. I loved him too much to watch it happen, but nothing I had done would talk him down from the ledge he teetered on. I feared one wrong sentence or word would completely send him over the edge.

I wanted to tell him I still loved him, if nothing else than to help but, but not only did I worry that he wasn't there, or maybe didn't feel that at all anymore, but there never really was the right moment. Everything was Viggo now.

Pushing down tears brought on by the helpless weakness, I tried my best to smile at him. It was all I could offer at the moment.

"Yeah, okay, shoot another one."

I directed my attention toward the twins, who had officially stopped gathering boulders and were now sculpting the cliff side into their image.

Lovely.

"Little to the right," Ruffnut directed, steering Barf's head over to spill the gas in the right direction. "Now go down, down." Once enough gas had been laid down, Belch released sparks, causing a deafening explosion.

Maybe I could've let what they were doing slide, but they weren't actually making boulders big enough for us to use, meaning this entire thing was just wasting time.

"Hmm. What do you think?" Ruffnut inquired, looking to her brother.

"I think we need to chisel the jawlines more," he answered, tilting his head to get a better look at what they'd made so far. "Make them more in and of our visage."

"Agreed."

I was just about to fly over and get them to focus, but thankfully, Snotlout came back to the group, boulders dangling from Hookfang's claws, and approached the pair. It felt strange to be thankful for Snotlout stepping in, but lately, he'd been stepping up a lot more and actually taking some responsibility. I suppose something good came out of this time when we all knew Hiccup was losing it a little bit.